Professional Background

Dr Dewald Venter has approximately 30 years of experience in the leisure industry. He is a registered South African national adventure, culture and nature tourist guide and a CATHSSETA-registered trainer and assessor for various tourism, sport, fitness and event management qualifications, skills programmes and unit standards.

He has participated in several rural tourism and adventure guide training initiatives, including the national government's Integrated Nature and Conservation (INTAC) Project in 2003 and the CATHSSETA-SAFA Soccer World Cup training programme for soccer coaches during 2008 and 2009.

Dr Venter served as Chair of the South African Bureau of Standards Technical Committee 228: Tourism and Related Services from 2016 to 2019. He continues to serve on technical standards committees relating to tourism and related services, sporting equipment, and playparks and equipment standards.

He is also a founding member of the Southern African Adventure Industry Association and served as its Interim CEO during 2020 and 2021.

Areas of Expertise

• • Adventure-Based Learning
• • Adventure Tourism
• • Tourist Guiding
• • Outdoor Recreation
• • Sport and Human Factors
• • Tourism Standards
• • Risk Management
• • Leadership Development
• • Sustainable Tourism Development
• • Participatory Action Research (PAR)